BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 75

Exporting and Importing Challenges

The BICS asks businesses that are currently trading about how current conditions, including the end of the EU transition period, have impacted on their exporting and importing – the specific questions asked are shown below.

Question: How did your business's exporting compare with this calendar month last year?

• exported/imported more
• exporting/importing stayed the same
• exported/imported less
• business was unable to export / import
• not sure

Figure 6: Of businesses currently trading that have exported/imported in the last 12 months, 15.2% reported exporting less in December 2022 compared to December 2021, and 29.1% reported exporting more.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 75

Currently trading businesses that have exported or imported in the last 12 months, and reported on how exporting compared to the previous year, were asked if they had experienced an increase in exporting/importing challenges over the last month.

Figure 7: The challenges that were most commonly reported to have increased in Wave 75 were changes in exchange rates, changes in transportation costs, and additional paperwork – this was the case for both exporting and importing. However, an estimated 41.3% of exporters and 41.8% of importers reported that they did not experience an increase in exporting/importing challenges in December 2022 compared with November 2022.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 75

Businesses that reported challenges to exporting/importing were asked about the main cause of these exporting/importing challenges.

Figure 8: In Wave 75, 33.5% of exporters reported that the end of the EU transition period was the main cause of their exporting challenges.  This was also the most frequently reported cause of importing challenges (43.1%). The end of the EU transition period combined with the COVID-19 pandemic was reported as the main cause of challenges for a further 23.3% of exporters and 25.3% of importers.  

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 75

Businesses were also asked about the cost of exporting/importing and time spent on exporting/importing in December 2022 compared with December 2021.

Figure 9: An estimated 61.8% of applicable businesses reported that the cost of exporting has increased in December 2022 compared with December 2021.  An estimated 60.5% of businesses reported that the cost of importing has increased over this period.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 75

An estimated 54.5% of businesses reported that time spent on exporting had stayed the same in December 2022 compared with December 2021.  An estimated 32.1% of businesses reported that time spent on exporting has increased.

Almost half (48.7%) of businesses reported that the time spent on importing has stayed the same in December 2022 compared with December 2021.  A further 35.2% of businesses reported that time spent on importing has increased over this period.